Charting a new course

Madeline Youmans, 18, of Girl Scout Troop 401, right, and Wendy Crowley, an animal care technician, left, play with Simon, an adoptable dog, on the Animal Agility Course that Youmans helped create at the Marion County Animal Center on Southeast Baseline Road in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. Youmans received the Girl Scout Gold Award from the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida for her idea to create the Animal Agility Course that was completed in December of last year. Only 3 percent of Girl Scouts nationwide receive the Gold Award. She graduated from Forest High School in 2020. A Facebook post from the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida states: Madeline’s project, the Animal Utility Course, provided support to the Marion County Animal Shelter. While the shelter has yards for the dogs to exercise in, Madeline noticed there wasn’t much for the dogs to do besides run in circles. She provided agility equipment that would not only be fun for the dogs, but would also teach them basic obedience and exercise skills that can help them get adopted faster. After construction was complete, she was able to enjoy a live run-through featuring very happy canines (and humans). [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.

Madeline Youmans, 18, of Girl Scout Troop 401, right, and Wendy Crowley, an animal care technician, left, play with Simon, an adoptable dog, on the Animal Agility Course that Youmans helped create at the Marion County Animal Center on Southeast Baseline Road in Ocala. [Bruce Ackerman/OG] 

Madeline Youmans’ nerves heightened when the bright lights hit her eyes as she walked across the stage of the 2020-2021 Girl Scout Gold Award Ceremony in what was the crowning moment of her 12 years in Girl Scouts.

On June 12, the recent Forest High School graduate presented the result of her community service project, which earned her the Gold Award, the highest achievement a scout can receive.

Last April, Youmans proposed designing a dog agility course to serve the Marion County Animal Shelter. She got the idea after the shelter posted their hope to build a course on Facebook.

“I thought that that would be a good opportunity to do a Gold Award, so I emailed and called the shelter, and when they said I could do it, I started writing up the proposal for the council,” Youmans said.

Youmans loves dogs—her home and heart are filled with two rescue labs, one a mix—so when a chance to help dogs at the Marion County shelter came along, Youmans seized it. The course of poles, hoops and tunnels offers the possibility of a physical catalyst to canine behavior, and Youmans designed it for that very effect.

“It would help them with their exercise and their confidence skills,” Youmans said. “Because if they get praised for doing good on the different obstacles, then that [would] boost their self-confidence, which would, in turn, make them look better for hopefully getting adopted.”

Madeline Youmans, 18, of Girl Scout Troop 401, poses with her Girl Scout Gold Award and her vest adorned with numerous Girl Scout patches. [Bruce Ackerman/OG]

The project cost $300—all donated— and took 80 hours to finish. She and a team of dedicated volunteers worked on the project. Although the shelter had ideas about the obstacles they wanted for the course, Youmans designed the layout and built many of the obstacles, she said.

While she started the project in April 2020, it came to a halt during the summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the delay, the agility course debuted at the Marion County Animal Shelter in December. 

The initiative Youmans took to accomplish her project, her community service hours, and her leadership of a team of volunteers to complete the endeavor all helped her earn the Gold Award.

“I thought with COVID and everything that it would be a lot more challenging,” Youmans said. “So, when I found out I got it, it was a really good feeling.” 

Youmans began Girl Scouts in first grade and continued until her graduation from Forest this year.

From grade school to high school, Youman’s said Girl Scouts has resulted in amazing friendships and a chance to hone her people skills. She also said the group equipped her with the confidence to take on any new challenge. The Girl Scouts instilled in her the knowledge that “you’re able to do it and being able to tell yourself that you’re able to do it and not give up,” she said.